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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>The tz database says that Kazakhstan
has three time zones. I was asked by a correspondent to check
that statement. There is evidence that suggests that the two western zones
have been consolidated, but it's not conclusive. This is a summary of the
evidence; perhaps someone else on the mailing list can find a definite
answer.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>I know that most time zone sites on the internet
get their information simply by copying from someone else, so I tried to check
sources that I know have independent information.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>The web page of the Kazakh embassy in the
U.K., </FONT><A
href="http://www.kazakhstanembassy.org.uk/cgi-bin/index/55"><FONT face=Arial
size=2>http://www.kazakhstanembassy.org.uk/cgi-bin/index/55</FONT></A><FONT
face=Arial size=2>, says that there are two time zones, and that Astana is on
UTC+6. The page has no update date, but includes other information
dated February, 2005. The web page of the Kazakh embassy to Belgium
at <A
href="http://www.kazakhstanembassy.be/Kazakhstan.asp">http://www.kazakhstanembassy.be/Kazakhstan.asp</A>,
on the other hand, shows three time zones (Eastern/Main, Central, and
Western). It has a copyright date 2004.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>The December, 2004 Official Airline Guide (OAG)
showed three time zones for Kazakhstan; the current online data from OAG show
only two. I believe the OAG gets its data from the IATA SSIM, which in
turn gets its data from member airlines.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>The time zone map in the CIA World Factbook
online, dated "3-05", also shows only two zones. However, I can also
find CIA World Factbook time zone maps dated "7-03" and "4-01" that show the
same two zones, suggesting that the CIA map has been consistently
wrong. The "6-99" map shows two time zones but with a different
coverage: Qyzylorda Oblysy is shown in UTC+5 instead of
UTC+6.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Another small piece of evidence for two
zones: the Worldtimeserver website has a map (<A
href="http://www.worldtimeserver.com/current_time_in_KZ.aspx">http://www.worldtimeserver.com/current_time_in_KZ.aspx</A>)
that apparently shows Kazakhstan divided into three time zones. However,
its list only gives two time zones for Kazakhstan (Eastern and Western), and the
map for Western only shows two zones. This suggests that the webmaster for
that site recently altered the map for Western, but forgot to change the Eastern
map to match.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>It's tempting to think that the UTC+4 zone was
switched to UTC+5 at the same time that DST was abolished in Kazakhstan, March
15, 2005. The Kazakh embassy in the U.S. has a newsletter on
its website with an article about the abolition of DST (<A
href="http://www.kazakhembus.com/031705.html">http://www.kazakhembus.com/031705.html</A>),
but it doesn't mention time zones being consolidated.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>If two zones is correct, Asia/Aqtau and
Asia/Oral should be changed from UTC+4 to UTC+5 in the tz database.</FONT><FONT
face=Arial size=2> The effective date for this change was
probably quite recent.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>-- Gwillim Law</FONT></DIV>
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